Study Pinpoints IT Security's Top Data Security Concerns

Looming Threats

The report also sheds light on the next wave of challenges that IT security practitioners anticipate will most impact their decision-making three to five years from now. According to respondents, the top three trends posing the biggest security concerns are consumerization of IT and/or shadow IT (45 percent), mobility (40 percent), and increased stealth and sophistication of attackers (34 percent).

Think your organization's sensitive data is secure? According to a new study, you may want to reconsider. The Data Breaches and Sensitive Data Risks report, published by the Ponemon Institute in partnership with Scale Venture Partners and Informatica, surveyed 432 IT security practitioners to find out what data security concerns are top-of-mind and the approaches they're taking to address these challenges. The findings might surprise you.

The report found that although a majority of security professionals cite data breaches as their top concern, many aren't equipped to protect their organization's sensitive and confidential data. While many security practitioners simply lack the tools to gain insights on the location and risk of sensitive data, others admit that their existing security solutions are ineffective or don't protect against negligent or malicious user behavior. What's more, security isn't prioritized by business leaders — in part because security teams often don't have defined metrics to illustrate the business impact of their programs — making it difficult for security practitioners to obtain the resources needed to protect their organizations' data.

In this slideshow, Ariel Tseitlin of Scale Venture Partners highlights the top data security concerns keeping IT security practitioners up at night.